Airlines Seek More Clarity on Controller Shortage

New hot spots for air-travel delays emerged Wednesday because of a shortage of air-traffic controllers, while some airline executives warned that a lack of consultation was exacerbating the problems.

U.S. budget-cut-induced furloughs led to staff shortages Wednesday at facilities in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Tampa, said the Federal Aviation Administration, with more than half of the delays endured by travelers on Tuesday attributed to a lack of controllers forcing planes to fly farther apart. The agency, which has been criticized by airlines and lawmakers for how it implemented the staff cuts, said labor shortages contributed to delays Wednesday being concentrated at Chicago O'Hare, Las Vegas and Tampa.

The rolling furloughs had been most acute on Tuesday at facilities in Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas and Dallas-Ft. Worth, and the agency came under fire for not giving airlines more advance warning about its staffing plans.

Earlier

A day after the Federal Aviation Administration started to furlough some air-traffic controllers to save money because of the budget sequester, delays began to creep into the national airspace. Jack Nicas reports on Lunch Break. Photo: AP Images.

"We're not working in partnership with the FAA," said
Robert Isom,
chief operating officer of
US Airways Group
Inc.
"We liken it to Whac-A-Mole."

Mr. Isom said in an interview that the airline can't plan pre-emptive cancellations to avoid the worst delays because carriers only learn of problems on morning calls with the agency and aren't privy to the information the FAA has when it announces the slowdowns and ground delays. "We really don't know what information the FAA has."

He said the furloughs cause problems at one airport in the morning and by afternoon it is a new issue at another airport. Mr. Isom said the FAA isn't letting the airlines know the night before of what issues they may face the next day.

The FAA said in a statement that it "will continue to work with the airlines throughout the day to try and minimize delays for travelers."

Bev Goulet,
senior vice president of
AMR
Corp.'s
American Airlines unit, said she has seen the effects of the budget-sequester problems firsthand: two of her flights earlier this week were delayed by one to 1½ hours.

Ms. Goulet said in an interview that, with planes flying full, "people will avoid one-day business trips" unless the FAA's staffing problems and resultant delays are resolved.

"The hope is there is some solution so we won't have to go through this all summer," said Mr. Isom, adding that the FAA's handling of the problems has left airlines puzzled because seemingly small issues are causing delays.

Some traffic-management programs and ground delays are for seemingly minor reasons that normally could be managed, he said. For instance, Mr. Isom said, at one airport, winds of 10 knots required a slowdown. In another, a storm of the southeast coast of Florida was limiting airport takeoffs to the north. If there were normal staffing levels, the FAA wouldn't have taken these actions, he said.

The airport in Charlotte, N.C., US Airways' biggest hub, had a traffic slowdown "due to jury duty and a couple of sick calls" by controllers on top of the furloughs, he said.

The past few days have seen relatively good weather, Mr. Isom said. When bad weather comes, "we're going to get into uncharted territory." As of Wednesday morning, he said, there are delay and traffic-management programs in place at airports in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston and Charlotte.

The FAA said 1,025 delays on Tuesday were "attributable" to staff cuts from the furlough, alongside 975 caused by other factors.

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